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New Scientist Live

Australia OKs human embryo research

Harvesting stem cells from surplus IVF embryos was given the go-ahead by the Australian parliament on Thursday, when the Senate voted nearly two to one in favour of a bill legalising the procedure.

The bill will now return to the House of Representatives for final consideration, but it is expected to pass into law without any further changes in the first few weeks of 2003.

Both houses of the Australian parliament had already passed separate bills banning not just reproductive cloning but also therapeutic cloning, in which a cloned embryo is created as a source of stem cells for use in medical research.

The bill had a rough ride through both houses. Opponents pointed out that harvesting stem cells from an embryo also destroys it – an unacceptable taking of life in their view.

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But scientists supporting the bill argued that embryonic stem cells (ESCs) have real potential to cure devastating diseases such as Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and diabetes. Some of the world’s top stem cell researchers are based in Australia and advocates claimed that if the bill failed to become law, it would seriously slow down the development.

Limited repertoire

Other scientists opposed the bill, on the grounds that not enough work has been done yet in animals, and that stem cells taken from adults might be as effective as ESCs. But many experts believe that ESCs, which can develop into every different cell type, are likely to be more effective in therapies than adult stem cells, which have more limited repertoires.

The bitter campaigning did lead to Alan Trounson, head of the planned National Stem Cell Centre, being accused of misleading parliament, and Prime Minister John Howard withholding the A&dollar;46 million earmarked for the centre, pending an investigation. The money has yet to be released.

Fourteen amendments were added to the bill in Senate, but none of them substantially changed the bill. Two amendments that were defeated had stem cell companies sweating. They would have banned the patenting of unmodified stem cell lines and inventions coming out of stem cell research.

“We’re happy,” says Chris Juttner of the stem cell company BresaGen in Adelaide. “We thought the bill would pass, but you can never be sure.”

The new Australian law lies between those in the UK and US. In the UK, the law already allows researchers to harvest stem cells from surplus IVF embryos and to conduct therapeutic cloning. But in the US, federally funded researchers cannot pursue therapeutic cloning or harvest stem cells from discarded embryos, although private companies can.